


this one's for the lonely child (broken hearted, running wild)

by thispapermoon



Category: The Worst Witch (TV 2017), The Worst Witch - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, I didn't see it coming, Pippa Pentangle is a pent-angel, Two witches in love, and julie hubble is the pent-angel, hecate now an adult has to face indigo, not a fix it but a lot gets fixed?, or actually she's like a deca-angle, post 3x07 fic, the ending of this fic SHOOK me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 04:51:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17760125
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thispapermoon/pseuds/thispapermoon
Summary: She turns back slowly, looks beseechingly at the girl before her.Still a child.Still so young.And Hecate knows she cannot be expected to be forgiven.“Yes, I did grow up,” she said softly. “And that makes me responsible for you. In addition to the responsibility that I bear for what I did to you.”“But it’s notfair,” Indigo bawls, voice thick with tears. “You’re the only familiar thing to me in this world - and you’re not evenyouanymore. You’ve gotten to live a life - you’ve been free to do what you wish - ”“I have not been free,” her voice cracks over the last word, her hands twitching, curling and uncurling in distress as she steps forward, eyes intent on Indigo. “I may have moved forward with the course of time, but since that day I haveneverbeen free."****Hecate Hardbroom has to confront her past at long last.





	this one's for the lonely child (broken hearted, running wild)

**Author's Note:**

> you guys i do NOT have time to be writing this garbage!!! i just do NOT. I need to do this case study for my interview tomorrow and i haven't even STARTED and I had an interview today that was hours long and wrote this literally up until and and ever since, and i haven't checked my work email, and i do not have TIME TO BE THIS INVESTED. 
> 
> but i am. 
> 
> and here it is.

“What _happened_ to you.”

The girl is staring at her, features unchanged in the course of forty years.

Hecate forces herself to hold her gaze.

She owes her that much.

“I grew up.”

“Grew _boring.”_

It stings.

Hot, and sharp. A blow.

“I was irresponsible. My actions,” she shakes her head, “had consequences. You are proof enough of that.”

Indigo simply continues to glare at her.

“You are not Joy Hardbroom. You’re a joke. Joy Hardbroom was fun. At least _I’m_ still fun.”

“You,” Hecate begins, heart curling up in her chest, “are still a child.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Hecate swallows.

“Mine.”

Indigo stands before her, no bigger than she was at twelve, and crosses her arms.

“It’s bad enough that you took everything from me already. You want my magic now, too.”

Hecate closes her eyes. “It has to be.”

“No.” Indigo stomps her foot. “ _No._ You don’t get to just _take_ me away - from my life, my family - you don’t get to tell me what to _do_ just because you’ve grow up. Look at you - you’re _old_ and _bitter_ \- Joy Hardbroom would have laughed in your face, you old hag.”

It’s increasingly difficult to stand, to hear beyond the rushing, ringing in her ears. Hecate forces her spine straight, clenches her hands at her sides, and breathes through a decades old pain that makes her words come out misshapen and slow.

“I am sorry.”

“You’re not.”

“I am.”

“You don’t get to be sorry. You _don’t_ get to tell me what to do.”

“Miss Moon -“

“My name is _Indigo._ ”

The girl spits out the words so fiercely and Hecate reels, remembers uttering the same phrase over and _over_.

_My name is Hecate._

_My. Name. Is. Hecate._

“I want my life back. I want my _friend_ back.”

Indigo’s eyes are bright with tears of rage, and Hecate longs to press the heels of her hands to her eyes, to stave off the way her head feels slow and her thoughts thick, a growing ache at the base of her skull.

“I am no longer the witch you once knew.”

“What _happened_ to you,” Indigo repeats, voice shaking and almost frightened.

“ _You_ happened to me.”

The words come out unbidden, emotional, torn from her like a stitches from a wound, and she turns away, back to the child so that she cannot see how Hecate breaks.

“I selfishly stole you away. Gave you powers that corrupted your mind, made you unstable and dangerous. And it was too much - far too much. I stole your life from you, Indigo Moon. I can never make up for what I have done.”

She turns back slowly, looks beseechingly at the girl before her.

Still a child.

Still so young.

And Hecate knows she cannot be expected to be forgiven.

“Yes, I did grow up,” she said softly. “And that makes me responsible for you. In addition to the responsibility that I bear for what I did to you.”

“But it’s not _fair_ ,” Indigo bawls, voice thick with tears. “You’re the only familiar thing to me in this world - and you’re not even _you_ anymore. You’ve gotten to live a life - you’ve been free to do what you wish -”

“I have not been free,” her voice cracks over the last word, her hands twitching, curling and uncurling in distress as she steps forward, eyes intent on Indigo. “I may have moved forward with the course of time, but since that day I have _never_ been free.”

Silence falls between them and they stand staring at each other, no other sound but for their ragged breathing.

“Indigo,” Hecate whispers, quite desperately. “Please.”

The girl bows her head. “What’s to become of me?”

At a loss, Hecate raises a shaking hand to her eyes.

“You must give up your powers.

Again, Indigo stares up at her, defiant. “What if I refuse.” She turns and stalks to the chair by the fire, throwing herself down and crossing her arms once more.

“Then,” Hecate says, “I shall have to turn you in to the Magic Council.”

For the first time since her arrival in Hecate’s study, Indigo looks shocked rather than outraged. “Magic Council? You told me about them -” She frowns and peers up at Hecate, expression unreadable. “But won’t you have to admit to what you did? Won’t they punish you?”

Hecate bows her head. “It’s long past time.”

 _“No.”_ Indigo is up and out of her seat, standing before her, trembling. From fear or rage, Hecate is unsure. “ _No._ They took your parents. They banished them for using magic to help my people. “They took their magic and that’s why you were always coming to the caravans. You were looking for them because the Council _took them away_.”

“Indigo -”

“I don’t care who you are now, you still were Joy once - and I’m not letting you hand yourself over to those - those - _pigs_.”

Hecate closes her eyes. Tries to remember how once the Council was a source of fear in her life and not an emblem of security and control. It seems so very long ago now.

“Indigo,” she whispers, but doesn’t get to finish the thought. There’s a soft noise like wind through a chime and her eyes fly open.

Pippa Pentangle is standing between them.

Starting at Indigo Moon.

“Who is _this?_ ” Indigo spits out. “Is she from the Council? I can’t believe you - you summoned them already?” The girl looks furious and Hecate struggles to recapture her barrings as Pippa continues to gape at the scene before her.  

“Hecate - what -”

“Pippa -” Hecate cuts in, frantic in her horror of this new turn of events.

“Indigo Moon?” Pippa drags her eyes away and turns slowly, confusion writ across her features. “The girl from our third year? Who suddenly transferred out - Hecate - what - ?”

There’s something in Pippa’s voice, something dangerous, and Hecate, already on edge, feels panic flare within her stomach all the more.

“ _Pippa?_ As in Pippa _Pentangle_ ?” Indigo’s voice is sharp and almost amused. “What, did you two end up _married_ or something?”

Hecate stares at her.

Pippa’s eyes fly open wide.

She turns to Hecate and Hecate shakes her head, unable to look at her, eyes sliding back to Indigo instead as her cheeks flame.

“Miss Moon, I haven’t the faintest idea what silly -”

“She was mad about you, you know,” Indigo says conversationally to Pippa, who looks like she’s about the tip over if she doesn’t start to breathe again soon. “I caught her drawing little hearts around your name in her notebook once. And she told me that wished she was brave enough to dance with you.” Indigo snorts. “I told her not to hold out hope - you were the most popular girl in our year and Joy and I were -”

Pippa’s eyes fly to Hecate at the name.

The panic is racing through her now, up from her stomach and through her spine. Spots dart and dance before her eyes, and before she can think of an answer, she finds a warm hand on her arm, gentle but firm. Suddenly there’s a chair beside her and Pippa’s guiding her down and into it, crouching beside her and looking up into her face in concern.

Hecate feels sick.

“It seems there’s a lot Miss Hardbroom hasn’t been telling me.”

But Pippa’s voice is soft. Worried. Gentle.

 _Miss Hardbroom_.

A moment of grace, Hecate realizes, trying to breath around the way tears prick at her eyes. Though Pippa’s immediate concern for her self-determination makes guilt flair within her, hotter and brighter than before, and she blinks rapidly, trying to clear her head.

Somehow Pippa’s hand has found its way into her own and she stares down at where they join, at a loss.

“So you _are_ married,” Indigo snorts, eyes also on their clasped hands.

Hecate releases Pippa as though burned.

“I hardly care for such a _presumption_ \- "

It only makes matters worse.

Suddenly Pippa stands, and Hecate can no longer see her face without having to turn her head.

She finds she doesn’t dare.

“Fine.” Indigo says and looks Pippa up and down. “Keep pining over her, at least she gives you the time of day now.”

Behind her, Pippa makes a small noise Hecate can’t interpret.

“At least she got to _grow up_ , too.”

Indigo is glaring again and Pippa makes another sort of sound, crossing and gesturing Indigo down into a chair as she conjures up tea.

“I dare say I don’t know what is going on here, but it seems like I transferred in during a spot of trouble?” She says delicately, which gives Hecate a moment to collect herself.

Taking the offered cup, Indigo adds six sugar cubes and slurps it noisily.

“If you call trouble your best friend turning you to stone for - for how long? Don’t know? Years. Then growing old without you. Then acting like a _grown up_ and telling you what to do all day long, including that you have to _give up your magic_.”

Hecate cringes and Indigo sticks her tongue out at her.

Pippa slowly sits and stares at Hecate.

“Hecate - what?”

“It’s true.” She finds her voice. Eyes dropping as her hands twist in her lap. “All of it. I - I - used a Wishing Star - I gave Indigo powers. She wasn’t a transfer student, I made that all up. She was an ordinary girl. But the powers were too much for her. She was dangerous. And before I could fix it she - she - she turned to stone.”

There’s silence in the room aside from Indigo’s continued slurping and Pippa looks like she’s hardly breathing.

“But you said she’d transferred back out. To another school. Hecate, you said she’d gone to another school - ?”

Hecate nods, shamefaced. “There was nothing I could do. She was suddenly stone. Out alone, in the woods. And I was already banned from leaving grounds - when Mrs. Cackle found out that I’d left again - she - she - “

Shaking her head, Hecate can’t go on. Can’t voice the punishment that has kept her in this castle for four decades. Beholden to the Cackle family. Hiding for the world. Apart from Pippa.

“What did she do?” Pippa asks softly.

“Locked her up here,” Indigo says conversationally. “Mildred told me.”

“Ah,” Pippa’s expression flickers towards sudden understanding. “Mildred Hubble is involved in this.”

Hecate twists her fingers. “She used a Wishing Star on her mother.”

“On Julie?”

Hecate sighs.

“Oh dear.”

“But Mildred cast a spell to save Julie. Then came to the woods and freed me,” Indigo pokes a finger into her cup and scoops up the sodden sugar from the bottom. “Now Kill-Joy here wants to take my powers. Or turn herself in to the Council.”

Pippa turns on Hecate, eyes wide. She looks frightened and Hecate feels her lungs contract.

“Hecate -”

“There is no other way,” Hecate says sharply. “Either the girl gives up her powers willingly, or we must involve authorities that shall ensure she is no longer a danger to herself or the magical community. I should have turned myself in long ago.”

“But you were a child,” Pippa gasps.

“I am no longer a child.”

Hecate rises and summons her cape. “I shall summon them now. Ada will need to relinquish the spell that binds me to the castle, however.”

Pippa stares at her. Blinks. Rises slowly.

“Binds you to the castle?”

Hecate frowns. “Yes. My punishment for cavorting with ordinaries.”

“But that was in your third year,” Pippa whispers, confusion causing her eyebrows to contract.

“After the incident with Miss Moon, the Cackle’s knew that I would be banished like my parents if the authorities were to find out that I was following in their footsteps. They bound me to the castle. I cannot leave. Have you perhaps never wondered why it is I never come to see you? Why I distanced myself when we were so close. You could leave at anytime. And I knew that I could not.”

She doesn’t expect Pippa to look to utterly horrified. But she does.

“Bound you to the castle?” Pippa’s eyelashes are growing wetter by the moment and she blinks rapidly, her chest moving with emotion. “That’s why - that’s why -”

A hand comes up to cover her mouth and Pippa shakes her head. “Oh, _Hiccup._ ”

The affectionate nickname is too much, and Hecate turns away again, shame causing her shoulders to draw forward and around her like a shield. She clutches her cloak to her and tries to control her shaking fingers.

What will the world beyond these walls be like? She wonders. Prison is sure to feel less like home that Cackle’s does. Though perhaps, in time, she will adjust. After all, she has to Cackle’s.

There’s a hand on her elbow and she nearly jerks away, unable to accept Pippa’s sympathy. But the hand is smaller, hitting her arm at the wrong height and she looks down into the solemn eyes of Indigo Moon.

“We both were prisoners, I guess. All this time.” The girl looks glum and Hecate swallows.  

“I - “

Indigo cuts her off with a sharp sigh. “And being _you_ can’t be fun, can it?” She casts a disparaging eye over Hecate’s tight bun and long, severe dress. “Being Hecate Hardbroom must be punishment enough.”

She drops her hand from Hecate’s arm and shrugs.

“I’ll do it. I’ll give up my powers. Just don’t go turning yourself in to the people who took your mum and dad.”

Hecate swallows and shakes her head, desperate for punishment after so many years of quiet guilt. “But your Gran - “

“Is long dead by now, I’m sure. And never had a mum or dad, you know that.” Indigo shoves her hands into her pockets and shrugs again. “Nothing much was ever gonna become of me anyway. Knew I would only be working on street corners and carnivals to make a living since I was young. Until you came along. Then I thought I could actually grow up to _be_ someone.”

Hecate feels more than hears Pippa come up and hover behind her. She lets out a shuddering breath.

“You deserve to have the opportunity to grow up and be someone, Indigo Moon,” Hecate whispers, voice trembling far more than she wishes it would.

“How?”

It’s defiant, a demand, and yet there’s still something curious and vulnerable in Indigo’s words that cuts Hecate to her bone.

“We will figure something out,” Pippa murmurs, and steps to stand beside her. Hecate closes her eyes for a moment, grateful that Pippa isn’t running from her, guilty because she ought to be.

Indigo scoffs out a laugh. “You two are _so_ married.”

From the corner of her eye Hecate sees Pippa turn as pink as her dress and sighs.

“In time we will think of a solution,” she says haltingly, mind whirling. “But first, your magic.”

Indigo looks frightened. “If I give up my magic, you could chose not to help me after.”

Hecate swallows down sick anguish. “You have my word. I swear by the Witches’ Code.”

Rolling her eyes, Indigo wrinkles her nose.

“You hate the code.”

“Joy hated the code.”

“Wow.” Eyes up at the ceiling, Indigo sneers. “You really are so boring, _Hecate_.”

Pippa’s fingers brush against her hand.

“That may be, but I have chosen to live my life by the Code. And as such, it is the truest oath I can offer you.”

“Fine. By the Code.”

“By the Code.”

Hecate breathes out in relief and conjures a slip of paper, pulled from a library book so long ago. Her last act of rebellion.

Willing her hand to stay steady, she holds it out and Indigo takes it.

She looks down at it.

Sighs.

And after a moment, she casts Hecate a look of pure disdain and closes her eyes.

 _Take away this precious gift_  
_The magic which I cast adrift_  
_I freely end my enchanted hours  
_ _And relinquish now my witch’s power._

There’s a shimmer than passes around Indigo, blue, and purple, and black like a bruise. It flares  brightly. And then it is gone.

“Now what.”

Indigo is studying her hands, shoulders hunched and Hecate can hardly breathe.

“Dinner, I think. If you are hungry. And then a room for you for the night.”

“Hungry? I’ve been made of granite for an _age_. I’m _starving_.”

Hecate tries not to remember curling up in Indigo’s den to feast on ice cream and apple tarts. It seems like a lifetime ago.

“I am transferring you to the dining hall,” she informs the girl, stomach far too uneasy to think of food for herself. “There you will find Mildred Hubble. She will show you the ropes.”

“Finally, someone Not Boring.”

“Indigo.”

The girl looks up then. All brown eyes, familiar and unfamiliar all at once, and Hecate shakes her head.

“I’m sorry.”

Indigo holds her gaze.

“I know.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Hecate raises her hand and Indigo fades away, leaving nothing but an empty space of floor in her wake.

And silence.

Overpowering, all consuming, silence.

“I forgot it was a Thursday,” Hecate confesses finally. Nearly at a whisper.

She longs for normalcy.

Longs for Pippa to _say_ something.

But Pippa only stares at her. Eyes wide, face pale.

And then she’s moving forward in a single stride, arms around Hecate’s neck, body pressed against her as holds her close.

“Hecate Hardbroom, you are a fool.”

Every muscle stiffens. Every nerve protests. But Pippa doesn’t let go.

“You weren’t ever going to tell me? All these years. I’ve been so _worried_ about you. And I thought - I thought -”

Pippa’s voice is nearing tears and Hecate’s heart is beating painfully fast.

“I know what I made you think,” she says in defeat, and Pippa releases her to wipe at her face instead.

“ _Confined_ to Cackles?”

Hecate stiffens again.

“Cackle’s is my home.”

Pippa blinks at her. Sinks into the nearest chair and puts her head in her hands.

She’s quite for a long, long time and Hecate can’t think of what to do or say.

Can only stand and watch her. Aching.

“I was glad when Indigo left,” Pippa says finally, voice muffled in her hands. “I was so selfishly, selfishly glad.”

She looks up and tears are streaming down her cheeks.

“Before Indigo you were my best friend. And after, you were again. Though after, you were different. But I didn’t mind. You were mine, and I was yours, and Indigo was - Indigo was - “

Pippa chokes on a sob and shakes her head, dashing angrily at her eyes. “I hated her.” Pippa manages around her tears, voice harsh with what Hecate recognizes all too well as a particular brand of self hatred.

“I despised myself for it. I knew on some level you were hurting. But I was so _glad_ -" Pippa’s head goes back into her hands, tears splashing between her fingers.

She shakes her head and drags her fingers down her face standing suddenly. “But if I’d _known_ \- “ She trembles, hands fisting and unfisting against her dress “- if I’d _known_ what you went through - what you were _going_ through - Hiccup - I - ”

Hecate startles at the name, stumbling back and Pippa gasps, stepping back herself to give Hecate space.

“All these years and I haven’t been there for you. Not in the way you needed me to be.”

Pippa’s voice is so quiet. Broken. And Hecate shakes her head.

“I didn’t want you to know.”

Hecate hesitates, mind reeling. “You were there. And I did need you,” she confesses. “I just couldn’t let you need me. Not when you were always going to leave - to go where I couldn’t follow.”

“But I - but - “ Pippa’s faces scrunches up and she wraps her arms around herself as if to stop from trembling. She shakes her head ruefully and then sighs. “What will become of her?”

Hecate shakes her head.  “I am in her debt. But I can hardly raise her. It wouldn’t be,” she halts, inwardly cringing, “appropriate.”

Pippa’s looking at her, speculatively. “No, I suppose not.”

Suddenly, she drops her arms and moves forward, taking Hecate’s hand instead. “Come with me.”

“Where - Pippa - I - no - I’m in no condition to be seen - ” Hecate stutters but Pippa drags her towards the door by the hand all the same.

“I’ll transfer us then. Brace up.” Pippa waves and suddenly they’re standing before Ada’s desk, Pippa’s hand still tightly in her own.

Ada looks up from her evening paper and frowns.

“Miss Pentangle, this is hardly an expected social call - ”

“Release her.”

Pippa voice is flat and hard. Full of fire, and Hecate swallows.

“What - “

“Release. Her.”

Pippa turns to her, as if suddenly unsure. “If that’s what you want.”

Mind racing, heart twisting, Hecate swallows down years of longing and denial. Something about having Pippa’s hand in her own makes her brave and she manages a half-nod. Pippa holds her gaze, unwavering, and Hecate nods again.

She turns back.

“Release her.”

The full force of Pippa’s stare fall on Ada who looks aghast. “But Hecate’s always been quite content at Cackle’s. Haven’t you?”

Hecate nods.

Pippa sighs, sharp and angry. “Be that as it may, release her. Then it will be her choice to be happy here.”

Ada twists her hands together.  “But she knows nothing of the outside world. It’s not safe - she -”

“She will learn,” Pippa says, in the same fiery tone. “She is the brightest witch I have ever met. And the world deserves to meet her too. Release her.”

“Hecate.” Ada looks at her beseechingly and Hecate can’t meet her gaze. Drops her eyes to her toes and remembers standing before Ada’s mother as the spell was cast. Knowing she would be forever bound to remain amongst these halls. Punished for longing for the world beyond.

“Please,” she whispers, suddenly desperate. “Please. Let me go.”

It’s been a long time since Ada has listened to Hecate when she’s asked for something.

She half expects her to refuse.

But Ada sits back and regards her, tears in her eyes. “You will always have a home here, Hecate.”

Ducking a nod, sucking a breath, Hecate closes her eyes as Ada waves a hand and a cool, shiver of a spell washes over her. It feels like being nearly clean, at last, and she sways a little, Pippa’s hand suddenly on her arm, steadying her.

“I’m going to transfer us again,” she whispers. “Is that alright?”

Hecate vision is filling with spots once more and she leans against Pippa and nods.

“Do you trust me?” Pippa breathes, and Hecate nods again, vision further narrowing.

“Okay, hang on, sweetheart. Hang on to me.”

And Pippa’s hand closes around her own.

And suddenly Hecate becomes nothing.

______

When she awakens, she’s on a soft surface with a cool cloth upon her brow. The lights around her are dim but warm. The scent of the room unfamiliar.

 _It’s not Cackle’s_.

She sits up so quickly her head spins and she feels nearly ill.

Swallowing down bile, she trains her gaze out the large windows into the fading light of evening.

Out to the large castle that sits atop the hill beyond.

_Oh._

There are soft voices in the next room and she closes her eyes. Tries to focus.

 _Pippa_.

She curls her fingers in the soft yarn of the multi-colored throw that still drapes across her lap. Drags her eyes over the watercolor painting that line the walls. The books stacked haphazardly in the bookcase. A device that looks like a large maglet that she thinks perhaps is called a television.

A television.

Julie. Hubble.

She wants to transfer away immediately, but her magic feels weak and bruised, as though it’s filled her blood with fizzing acid. Once again she swallow, hoping she will not be ill.

There’s a scrape of chairs, and the voices pause. And suddenly Pippa is beside her, and Julie just beyond that, cup of tea held out to her as Pippa collects the fallen wash cloth and sets it aside.

“My gran always said a cuppa warmth always put things right,” Julie murmurs, passing over the cup as though Hecate hadn’t unceremoniously vanished her hours before.

Hecate takes it automatically, though she’s not sure her stomach’s fit to drink it.

Julie settles across from her and Pippa take the spot beside her, not close enough to touch, but close enough that Hecate can feel her warmth. It makes her shiver.

“Why am I here.”

It comes out harshly and Pippa sighs.

“Because Julie is going to help us.”

Surprised, Hecate studies Julie uncomfortably. “You owe me no kindness.”

Julie’s smile is tight, but her eyes are warm, and Hecate wonders just what Pippa has told her.  
  
“I can’t say you’re the friendliest witch, but I can’t say you are wrong about much. Learned the hard way, we both have, I suspect.”

Hecate’s fingers are still caught in the yarn of the blanket and she flexes them, curling them around the mug of tea instead. The cup is bright yellow and says ‘WORLD’S BEST MUM.’ Her head aches and she desperately, desperately wishes today were a terrible dream and not her own personal reckoning.

Pippa touches her knee. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve told Julie about Indigo. She’s the only one who can understand, can’t she?”

Hecate doesn’t know what to say and forces down a sip of tea instead. It eases her roiling stomach a little and she pulls back, surprised.

“I added a drop of Soothe-Up Syrium,” Pippa murmurs. “I make it myself for sky sickness. Growing older is no fun for flying.”

 “You sound like Indigo,” Hecate mutters.

Pippa laughs.

It’s an unexpected sound after a day of heartache, and Hecate somehow finds her shoulders unclenching just a little.

She looks between Pippa and Julie, and Pippa blushes.

“Well. I thought that maybe - you see - I was hoping Julie would know someone - but it turns out - well - the thing is - “

It’s not like Pippa to be indirect, and Hecate studies her, eyes flickering back to Julie who holds up a hand.

“I’ve decided to take in this young Indigo Moon.”

Hecate blinks at her.

“You _what?_ ”

Pippa beams. “It’s the perfect solution. Indigo needs someone who can help her process her time with magic - ”

“And I’m lonely.” Julie shrugs. “Was always just me and Mil. Now she’s off at school, she’s got her friends her magic. Would be nice to have some ‘round here who knows a thing about her world. But who wants to go do ordinary kid stuff. Ride bikes, enter the science fair.” She runs a hand through her curls. “I haven’t much to offer, but I have enough. And if she’d find it acceptable -”

Hecate presses her fingers against the hot ceramic, focusing on the pain from the heat, pleading with herself to not let the tears that are building within her fall.

“- but after what happened at Cackle’s you probably don’t think me a very capable mother.”

Hecate’s head comes up. “That’s not true.”

Julie looks surprised.

“Mildred is tenacious. Brave. Compassionate. _Stubborn_. Indigo would be lucky to have - “

 _A mother like you_.

She can’t say it and breaks off, but Julie seems to understand. She leans forward and tugs Hecate’s blanket a little higher and Hecate swallows around embarrassment.

“Thank you.” She doesn't mean about the blanket.  “I owe you,” Hecate tries, throat tight, “an apology.”

She rests the mug in her lap, focusing on her the amber liquid as she tries to find the words. “When you came to Cackle’s I treated you abominably. I have treated Mildred as a lesser witch as well. I must confess that bearing witness to such magical ability a in non-magical child - well.

She doesn’t know how to finish and Pippa reaches out and takes her hand.

“It frightened me.”

It’s a confession. Sucking in a large breath she ducks her chin to her chest and wishes to disappear.

“I can understand that,” Julie says, very gently.

“I don’t deserve - ” Hecate whispers, but Pippa tugs her hand.

“Hiccup.”

Hecate shakes her head.

They all sit in silence and somewhere off in the distance a siren begins to wail.

“I sent a message to Dimity. She’s getting Indigo settled for the night,” Pippa says softly. “Tomorrow Julie will talk to Mildred, and then to Indigo.”

“They’ll get along, you think?” It’s the first note of apprehension in Julie’s voice and Hecate nearly smiles.

“Like a coven on fire. Though Indigo is -”  She breaks off, unsure how to phrase it.

“Rather more of a teenager,” Pippa cuts in, laughter in her voice.

Julie laughs as well. “Ah, well, my Mil is catching up, isn’t she. Getting to be quite the handful.” Julie’s eyes twinkle. “Nothing I’m sure I can’t handle after Ethel Hallow.”

Hecate winces.

“Thank you.” She says again after another moment of silence. And means it with all her heart.

“I think it will do me good, and Mil good, to have another one we can count as family. Our hearts are big enough, and Indigo Hubble-Moon will be right at home here with a name like that. She gestures to the bric a brac and tie dyed scarves that line the walls.”

Pippa squeezes Hecate’s hand. “We should get out of your hair. I’m sure there’s a lot you’ll need to get done before tomorrow.”

Julie stands and so does Pippa and Hecate watches in confusion as they embrace.

“You know each other?”

Pippa shoots Julie a look. “For a few years now.”

Julie laughs and bumps her shoulder against Pippa’s. “She a good egg, this one.” Then pointedly, “But if you hurt her -”

Hecate flushes violently and Pippa swats as Julie in clear embarrassment. Her own blush is once again fighting to outdo her dress, and Hecate marvels at what it might mean.

She finds she’s too tired to think much about it, and suddenly Pippa’s hands are uncurling her own from around the mug and handing it to Julie.

“Thanks, Jules. I know this isn’t any sort of small favor.”

“Oh, hush, Miss Witch, if there’s anything I’ve learned in the past few years it’s to roll with life’s punches. We’ll all be just fine. And so will you.” She casts an eye at the still seated Hecate and Hecate struggles upright, swaying slightly.

“Thank you.”

Julie nods, a considering expression across her face. “You and I, Miss H. We’ll be alright as well.”

A knot of anxiety deep in her chest unfurls slightly and Julie gestures with the mug. “I’ll let you two be off. Night.”

Pippa leans in and hugs her. “Night.”

Once Julie has disappeared into the kitchen, Pippa’s hands come in and settle on Hecate’s elbows. “Hi, you.”

Hecate gazes at her, at a loss.  

“How are you feeling?”

Opening her mouth, Hecate can’t find the words.

“Physically, I mean,” Pippa clarifies, as if reading her thoughts.

“The tea helped.”

“Good.”

Pippa’s thumbs are moving gently against the fabric of Hecate’s dress and she can’t help but lean into her.

“I don’t want to go back,” Hecate breathes, voice catching in shame. “I can’t face it. Not tonight.”

“Okay,” Pippa whispers. “Okay.”

She shifts forward so her arms are around Hecate and Hecate is leaning against her.

“You trust me?”

With every fiber of her being, Hecate answers.

“Yes.”

_______

Pippa’s room is pale pinks, and light creams, and high ceilings. And Hecate feels like she can breathe. From the moment they land. She can suddenly breathe.

It smells like Pippa. And it feels familiar, like Pippa. And Pippa’s arms are still around her and Hecate knows she has no right to break, no right to express the anguish that is scraping at her insides with every shuddering breath. But Pippa simply keeps her arms about her. Loose and unrestrictive. But still present and assuring.

“You’re safe,” she whispers, lips nearly against Hecate’s forehead.

And Hecate does break.

The dam, built so long ago around her guilt, around her sorrow, cracks like a fallen egg, shatters and splinters and her messy heart spills out, running like yoke as Pippa pulls her close. Tucks her against her. Rocks her, and whispers to her, and doesn’t - doesn't for a moment - let her go.

“I’m -s-sorry -” Hecate chokes out, voice torn and raw.

But Pippa hushes her, cups the back of her head so Hecate’s head rests more securely in the crook of her shoulder. Soothes her until her tears are spent. Until she’s quivering, and exhausted, but calmer, and then walks her backwards until Hecate feels something soft against her thighs.

Pippa guides her down and Hecate finds herself suddenly sitting on Pippa’s cream duvet. She looks up at her, both stunned and frightened all at once.

Pippa touches her cheek with her fingertips. “I’m going to find you some night things and transfer you into them.”

She withdrawals slowly - Hecate’s arms seem to have trouble unhooking from around her waist - but is back in a moment, soft gray pyjamas with pink detailing draped across her arm.

“Ready?”

Hecate takes a breath, nods, lets Pippa’s magic wash over her. She shivers.

“Hmmm,” Pippa breathes, and suddenly there’s a steaming cloth in her hand. “My face always feels so tight after a good cry. Here.”

Tentatively, Hecate takes the cloth and buries her face in it. Its lavender scent fills her lungs and, despite herself she sighs, then sighs again as Pippa’s hand cups the back of her head, fingers tracing over a hair pin.

“May I?” Pippa whispers.

And Hecate looks up. She knows her eyes are wide. But Pippa looks at her so gently. And she know that, for Pippa, there is no right or wrong answer.

Slowly, she nods.

Pippa takes the towel and it’s gone in a blink. Her fingers come up and find a pin, easing it out and letting it go so it hovers in the air and then disappears as well.

Pin by pin, Hecate’s defenses come down, until her hair is tumbling around her. Long, and black, and Pippa’s hands are in it, guiding it away from her face with careful fingers.

Hecate gazes up at her, lost in the intimacy of the moment, heart slamming into her chest as Pippa eyes stay riveted to her own, her fingers tender against Hecate’s scalp.

“My name,” Hecate whispers, voice rugged and trembling with emotion long withheld, as her hair streams down her shoulders, “is Joy Hardbroom.”

Pippa’s fingers still, slide down until Hecate’s face is cradled between her palms.

“Yes,” Pippa breathes, and Hecate watches how tears coat her lashes as she blinks. “It is.”

“What Indigo said - “ She can’t go on and tries to look away. Pippa holds her fast.

“About us being married?”

There’s no laughter in Pippa’s voice. Her words are careful, soft.

Hecate closes her eyes. “I’m sorry. I don’t know how you can be so kind to me when I -”

“Hiccup.”

Her eyes open.

Pippa is looking at her intently.

“If -” Pippa says, then pauses, and Hecate can tell that she’s struggling to get the words out. “- if being married means that you stand by someone - in sickness, in health - for richer, for poorer - through magical mishap, and magical triumph - “ she breaks off, and draws a shaky inhale - “then I have been married to you for a long, long time.”

Stunned, Hecate stares at her.

“If it means to love and to cherish,” Pippa tracks a finger down Hecate’s cheek. Leans in and softly kisses Hecate’s forehead. “Then I do.”

Hecate, still reeling, reaches up and clasps her hand. “You do?”

Pippa’s fingers splay against her cheek and she nods. “I do. And if the only part that’s missing is ‘to have and to hold,’ it doesn’t matter. I still will stand by you. For all my days to come.”

“To hold?” Hecate whispers, and can’t help the way her face tilts up, can’t help the way her body leans towards Pippa’s, as if Pippa is a celestial being and Hecate is her moon.

Hesitating, Pippa blushes. “You’ve had so much happen today. And in your life. I’m not telling you this to make things only more complicated. But I want you to know that I’m here. And that you are the most important person in my life, Joy Hecate Hardbroom. You always have been. You always will be.”

“To love and to cherish,” Hecate repeats, in wonder.

“Yes.”

Hecate can tell Pippa is holding back, can tell by the way her eyes drop down to her lips, how her hands have moved again to tangle restlessly in Hecate’s hair. It’s unconscious, instinctual, and Hecate knows Pippa means every word she says. But Hecate knows she that she wants this too.

“Pippa,” she whispers, and shifts so that the hand Pippa has brought back to her cheek is against her lips.

Gently, eyes never leaving Pippa’s own, she kisses Pippa’s palm.

Her hands find Pippa’s waist and she guides her forward, wraps her own about Pippa as her forehead rests against Pippa’s stomach.

“To hold,” she whispers again, and can hardly believe the way her lips curve into a smile.

She pulls back and guides Pippa down beside her.

“Pipsqueak. I do.”

Pippa leans in, and kisses her gently. So very, very gently.

And Hecate is home.


End file.
